There’s a ton of readings tonight.

There’ll be a Suggests box popping up in regards to Neal Stephenson in a couple minutes, so I’ll keep it short. I’m reading his new one, Anathem, and I quite like it. I’m not usually crazy about books set on another planet that’s not Earth, but it’s pretty ballsy to write a space opera about the history of philosophy. We should encourage that.

Up at Third Place Books, Kathleen Finn reads from The Sharper the Knife, the Less You Cry. It’s a memoir that’s also a romance set in culinary school. Wow.

Then there are two readings I don’t care at all about: Garrison Keillor reads at Town Hall. Fuck Garrison Keillor. And then at Elliott Bay Book Company, Linda Cohn reads from Cohn-Head: A No-Holds Barred Account of Breaking Into the Boys’ Club. I think she’s a TV sports reporter or something like that, but that title—the awful pun, followed by the cliches “no-holds barred” and “boys’ club,” says that this is a book by an author who would as soon urinate on her readers as provide anything new or insightful.

And at First Presbyterian Church, Jonathan Mahler reads from The Challenge: Hamdan V. Rumsfeld and the Battle over Presidential Power. This is important, because presidential power is a vital subtext of this election season. It’s a worthwhile reading just for the question and answer session, and Mahler’s take on the two candidates.

The full readings calendar, including the next week or so, is here.